Monday, August 25, 2008

Please Don't Take Offense


After a long weekend, my wife and I put the kids to bed on Sunday night, plugged in a DVD, and plopped onto the couch. I'm not too ashamed to say that we like to watch romantic comedies once in a while. Last night, we watched Definitely, Maybe. Plot: the parents are getting divorced and the father is telling his 9 or 10 year old daughter about his love life including all the sordid details.

Anyway, I got to thinking that I can't remember a recent movie (romantic or not) about a family that actually stays together. We watched the Spiderwick Chronicles the other day and that involves a family that moves to a spooky house because the mom and dad are getting separated.

I know that Hollywood has been trying to normalize divorce for a long time but haven't we gotten the message already? We understand: People get divorced and let's not make the kids feel any worse than they already do. But why do we normalize bad behavior.

At what point, in our culture, will we ever celebrate people who keep their commitments?

1 comment:

Michael said...

Because there's no drama in it. No drama = boring movie.

Alas, I agree with you. But it's a social structure thing. Next time someone starts making a fuss about the gays wanting to marry, tell them you agree that they shouldn't but then take it a step further and suggest outlawing divorce and making adultery a criminal offense. See how quickly things get uncomfortable. It always makes me laugh when someone makes the argument based on the "sanctity of marriage" in a country with a 50% divorce rate among heterosexuals.

Like so many things, Disney started it. Try finding an animated feature that doesn't feature a broken home (except "Emperor's New Groove" which is why it's my favorite). It's disgusting and, for a child with two parents, very hard to relate to.